944 S2 Baltic Blue Respray

[HutchTheCrutch]

Hi all.
The time has come to get my car as good as it can be including the body work. The garage that I've taken to have advised that they can't polish out what they are calling crazing and therefore the only option to get it back to its original splendour is a respray.
Can someone please help me out with advice as to whether or not this is correct, and if so, any suggestions as to which company would be best to approach and any idea of the cost. I've attached a couple of photos that the garage took after their efforts.
Thanks,
Pete
[attachment=Porsche 944S2-1.jpg]

 

[PSH]

Hi Pete

Can I ask, were those marks there when you dtopped the car off? Those marks look like someone has attacked it with sandpaper?

Pete

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Unfortunately, yes. I think it happened a few years back at a car wash that I was daft enough to use.

 

[Dan944t]

Unfortunately, yes. I think it happened a few years back at a car wash that I was daft enough to use.

i don’t even let my wife clean my car Pete!

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Me being dumb! I cleaned it by hand up to that point, I'm not sure what the hell possessed me to take it through a car wash! :-(

 

[Dan944t]

what about the rest of the car Pete ?
have you got any good valet companies where you live? they would be good at accessing the paint if it’s a proper company.

you don’t always need a full repaint

Daniel

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Hi Daniel.
I've looked across the forum and there are a couple of companies around Crawley that seem to crop up, so I might give them a try.
As it stands, the car needs work to bring it back to full working order (air con, boot release, water pump, etc ...) but there's only a steering UJ that needs replacing to give it an MOT, so all in all the car's in pretty good nick. I just really want to bring it back to what it should be.
I have a photo of the dashboard where the speedo shows 160 (I know it only does 149!) and the rev counter on the limit in 5th on the autobahn back in 2006. It's a brilliant car.

Pete

 

[Dan944t]

i used to be a professional valeter for an excellent company and went off to do it freelance with there name ,like franchise, and the things some of us could bring back to life was pretty astonishing. all in how thick a layer of paint there is left ,.. and a good valeter/ detailer will tell you as it’s there job to bring okd paint back to life! so don’t hang onto thinking you have to get a full spray job withought a sec of nd or third opinion is all i’m saying []

beutifall cars mate , if all i’ve ever owned, there my favourite!

just look for good reviews and maybe google , paint detainers in your local area , even if you have to drive an hour ,—-it’s well worth it and will save you thousands and time withought your car !
good luck

atb
Daniel

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Thanks Daniel. Much appreciated mate.

Pete

 

[Briggy]

To my eyes, that can be corrected by machine polishing. Scratches are just where paint has been removed, such that it's lower than the surface. A machine polish removes a thin layer of paint, so that it's at the same level as the scratch i.e. a flat smooth surface, just like new. If the scratches are too deep i.e. there's not enough paint to remove, then you may need a respray.

Any decent detailer would be able to measure the paint thickness and advise what can and can't be achieved. Not sure where you're based, but if you're anywhere near Gloucestershire, I can thoroughly recommend Nigel at Glos Detailing.

As Daniel said, get other opinions before committing to a respray - in particular, take your car to a professional detailer.

Cheers,
Bryan

 

[CaymanChr15]

Hi I would like to clarify if its crazing which would be the result of an old repair which due to poor prep or drying results in a crazing effect. If the marks are due to scratches produced by car wash etc . Crazing requires a proper respray of that panel and blending out to adjacent panels. Scratches can be polished out provided you can't get your nail in to them as a general guide. Always suggest small independent shop for repair who can take the time to do correctly.

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Thanks for your reply guys. You seem to be of the same mind that I am, that it's not crazing (I have not any repairs done to body work) but scratches that I would have thought will polish out.
Thanks for your suggestions, I live in Surrey but I'm happy to travel if the recommendations are strong enough. As far as possible I want to keep the car original as I have so far only changed maintenance parts.

Pete

 

[Diver944]

It's always tricky from a photo but to my eye it looks like you have a vertical 6 inch patch on the back edge of the door that has no paint left as well as a small grey patch of primer on the swage of the rear quarter. If you want those panels back to their former glory they will have to be repainted. You can't polish an area that has no paint left (unless you want very shiny primer) []

It's difficult to be sure without a paint depth guage but I am guessing those panels have already been polished a fair amount so there is very little material left to polish out those horrible horizontal scratches. Polish too much and you will just have patches of primer visible all over.

Finally, those tiny dots on the left edge of the picture. Are they water drops on the surface or are they blemishes in the paint? These 'could' be the crazing that the bodyshop are calling crazing. If they are in the paint, then again they will not polish out.

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Thanks for the input Paul. I'm not really sure what's going on. I think there's plenty of paint and I don't know what the tiny dots are. I thought they might be some residue from the polishing they tried out.

 

[HutchTheCrutch]

Quick update.

I just came back from seeing the car and the scratches are too deep to be polished out. I thought there was enough paint there but sadly not. I've been quoted between £8,000 and £12,000 to do a full body respray which is way beyond my budget. So it looks like my car is going to have to stay as is. :-(

 

[blade7]

Find another body shop, or get it wrapped.

 

[Dan944t]

sorry to hear this! , my question is , why can’t they just blend that pannel into the rest of the car prob lookin on more like £1500 to do that?? don’t see why the whole car would beed doing just becuse of that pannel . i had the side of my car sprayed and the boot becuase of a large dent on the rear quarter and that was £800 albeit few years back now , but i’d not be paying even £5000 for a spray job, for £8000-£1200 id expect a full body restoration back to bare metal ect .

like i said above or at very least like blade said find another shop that will give you a quote to spray bad areas and blend or get a quote for a full wrap which i would guess would start at £1500 + but don’t quote me i just have a few friends that have there porsche’s don’t every few years for around £1700

atb
Daniel

 

[graham.webb]

Agreed...find another body shop. For the repairs to my lower wings I encountered the "Porsche Premium" at several so called specialist body shops. In the end I found someone local who does a bit of restoration as well as regular stuff...perfectly good job at a fraction of the price.

 

[PSH]

Crazy price...phone around, find someone who actually wants to do the job...that price sounds like they didn't want to do the job to me. As others have said, if the rest of the paint is good you don't need to paint the whole car. Paint the panel and get the redt machine polished. A good bodyshop should be able to do that without breaking the bank.

Pete

 

[blade7]

I'm not a painter, but I'd assume it wouldn't be easy to blend 30 year old blue paint. Sounds like painting the whole side would be easier, but what condition is the paint on the bonnet in? I had a very shallow palm ding in the front of my bonnet, caused by someone pushing down to close it. No one would guarantee to 100% match new paint to the front panel and wings, and that was on Alpine White. Even the place that supplies and mixes paint, using a special camera. I bought another Alpine White bonnet for £60 instead.